Parental figure
by 4tunecooky
Summary: The events of the night of the massacre brought about changes derailing carefully laid plans. Changes no one noticed that will provide some desperately needed guidance to Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Parental figure**

 **Prologue**

The day of the massacre brought along many changes, the strongest village was brought to its knees, it's leader killed along with his loving wife, a portions of its military forces wiped out and the prideful inhabitants were made to fear for their very lives. But it was also the end of the being known as Kyuubi no kitsune, the strongest of the bijus, it's soul torn in half with the yin half never to be retrieved. The interesting thing to happen was when it's yang half was sealed in a child along with the the memory imprints of its parents, it resulted in a creature of energy that was a whole greater than the sum of its parts, with only the child it saw as its own bringing about purpose to its existence.

It watched it's child grow up alone and unloved with no one to take care of him. The hopeful existence of its innocent child was being slowly crushed before it eyes and it was helpless to prevent it. It lived in a prison anguishing in agony and rage without any way to comfort it's forsaken son and no option left but to abide it's time. It might not have had any memories of how it came to be, but was clever enough to watch and learn about the way the world worked. With the clarity brought on by its cunning nature it was obvious to see that it was not the child's parent. But it also could not refuse it's love for the child. It decided whatever may come in its path, the child would be better off with him as his parent as it was obvious no one else was willing to step forward.

The years flew by and Naruto soon joined the academy to be trained as a ninja of the village. It despised the village but was at least grateful for the small mercies life threw Naruto's way. The manipulative nature of the supposedly kind old man was clear as day even to its limited experience, but those honeyed words also kept the hope alive. That there was light at the end of the tunnel and things would turn out for the better in the future. The old man wanted Naruto to be beholden to Konoha, trying to win the hearts of its deluded denizens, chasing a fool's dream while wearing rose tinted glasses. Well, not if it had any say in it.

The ninja academy was a gateway to knowledge. Paving the way for minds to be enlightened. The rules of reality are explained for those willing to listen, along with proper training provided to manipulate the chakra within. That is, if you are not named Naruto Uzumaki. The pettiness of the human nature stoked its fire but all it could do was wait for its time.

The nature of chakra at least cleared the mysteries of the inhuman feats it had witnessed before. And why only a few could do it. It's chest welled with pride when it saw how great Naruto's chakra capacity was with the potential to achieve greater heights. Sadly it could not clear up the truth of its existence what with it being a creature of energy that clearly was not human.

The days passed with Naruto slowly being disillusioned about finally finding his place in life in the well propaganded academy and the hopes of any change being steadily overshadowed by the truth in front of him. It knew it's day would come, but it could only hope that it would not be too late by then.

The doors of change creaked open a little providing the opportunity it was waiting for. The children were being taught how to unlock their chakras and it felt a small connection form with Naruto when he unlocked his. There was a small part of its energy leaking into his, nothing too significant to be noticed but enough to provide some leeway for it. It waited for the connection to be stabilized while the day turned to night. When it felt it was good enough to begin, it pulled the sleeping Naruto into his mind.

Naruto jolted to consciousness when he was dropped into the puddle and scrambled to his feet trying to make sense of his surroundings. Everything was too real to be a dream he decided, the coldness of the cave slowly seeping into him. He could not see very far on either of the paths and didn't know whether to move forward or look for a way behind him.

"Naruto, stop dawdling about and come here soon.", called a deep inhuman voice making him jump in surprise. "I have waited long enough to finally meet my son."

To say Naruto was shocked would be understating what he was feeling. He started moving forward, his body moving towards the voice on its own, half in curiosity and half in fear. He soon reached the entrance to a large cavern, a steel door barring him entry.

"Hello, are you in there?" Naruto hesitantly called out, his voice tinged with confusion and rekindled hope.

"Yes Naruto, I have always been here. And I have always wanted to tell you how proud of you I am."

The obvious pride and love he could feel from the voice brought him so many questions with one being at the forefront of all.

"Who are you?"

"I am your father Naruto. I have been watching over you from when you were just a baby."

"But, I have never seen you or heard you before. Where were you all this time? How am I even able to speak to you now? I thought you were killed by the Kyuubi."

"I might not be the father that died in the massacre, son, but I am the one who will be with you from now on. It is not by blood that we are related but by fate and love."

"If what you say is true, then how come you are still behind this door and not in front of me?"

"This is your mind Naruto. I do not have the power to open this door for I am bound to this place. Only you can reach this place. I could do nothing but wait for this day to come for as long as I could remember."

"Can I come back here again?" Naruto asked fearing the worst. "Will you still be here?"

"Don't worry Naruto. This is only the beginning. There is much we have to talk about and things are about to change for the better even in the outside world."

"How do you know that? I don't even know your name. Are you also a Uzumaki?"

"No son, I am not a Uzumaki and you can call me dad. I do not have any other for I did not exist until after you were born and never had any reason for a name."

"But that doesn't even make any sense."

"I do not have an explanation either, son. This is all that I have lived."

That was the last Naruto heard as he felt himself being woken up from his fitful slumber by the first rays of the morning sun.

"Dad?", he called out in a panic, fearing being alone again only to be reassured by a wave of energy ripple out from his core. When he listened closely he could almost feel the steady pulse of energy leaking into his body that he was sure was not his chakra. He couldn't help but keep smiling at the thought of someone being there for him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

The rest of his stay in the Konoha ninja academy has been surprisingly good for Naruto. He couldn't believe how things have turned around after his disastrous start. He now had a couple of friends he knew he could rely on, no one antagonised him needlessly and best of all he has learnt a lot about what he is capable of, especially thanks to his dad.

Having a father is another thing that he still couldn't believe to be true. Over the years after hours of contemplation and discussions they both decided that it is for the best if no one else knows about this. The first revelation for Naruto after the initial meeting was that the village thought him to be the Kyuubi, or atleast that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him waiting to come out and continue its rampage. Words that he had missed, his dad listened and learnt from.

The shock and fear of this knowledge also made him wary of his dad at the beginning. If what he said was true and the villagers were right, then was his dad the Kyuubi? Could the Kyuubi that was supposed to have killed his birth parents be sealed inside of him and was now convincing him that it was his father now?

Well, he can now say with certainty that his Dad was not the kyuubi, but the kyuubi could theoretically be his dad's father. As the link grew stronger over the years the ways they could interact also increased. They were able to communicate even when he was awake without Naruto showing any outward signs of it. The most significant thing that had defined his relationship with his dad was when they could read each other's thoughts and memories if they both were open to it. He took the plunge into his dad's deepest memories and could see nothing before his birth. All he saw was memories of himself growing over the years along with the emotions attached to each of them. He broke and was made anew after knowing for certain that there was someone in this world that loved him unconditionally and nothing could ever change that.

His dad was born on the day of the Kyuubi's rampage when the fourth hokage fought with it. Whatever happened that night there was no one that could explain how the sealing went wrong. Naruto also realised that no one else but him might even know that something unexpected might have happened.

His life as a student was about to end with the graduation exam being at the end of the week. The things he had learned from the academy had made him appreciate the work the ninja do and the sacrifice that is expected of each of them. It might have been pointless to explain this in a classroom to a bunch of kids but at least a few of his classmates understood the gravity of the situation. Chakra and its workings were always at the forefront of his thoughts ever since he unlocked it. At first he wanted to learn more about it to be able to meet his dad more often, then to understand his dad's mysteries and from there on just the beauty of chakra had him fully enamoured.

It was an uphill task especially with the massive amounts of chakra that he had but the intense drive he got from knowing that at the end of it there was freedom from loneliness made him push himself further. The more he could control his own chakra the more his connection to his dad grew. Once his dad felt him capable enough to handle more, he started giving him more of his own alien chakra. The unique nature of it made him marvel in awe. It felt like walking into an endless ocean of lukewarm water under the night sky lit by the shining full moon soothing his senses with comfort. If he went in too deep for his growing chakra capacity and control to handle he would start to suffocate and drown until he was washed ashore by his dad's intentions.

He was good at taijutsu and even better at ninjutsu. With the prodding from his dad he also delved into genjutsu when he can but his forte will always be his control over the water element. His dad was fascinated with genjutsu and whenever he used his dad's chakra Naruto would get exceptionally good at it. It was almost as if his dad's chakra guided him along, the delicate art requiring finesse, control and the mental capacity to think and outsmart his opponent drew his dad's interests.

He learnt what he could from the limited access he had to the ninja library but most of his breakthroughs came from the brain storming sessions he had with his dad. Even though technically his dad lacked first-hand experience his intellect more than made up for it.

The way he saw the world also changed dramatically. A ready access to an outside perspective in his life made him realize things he never would have noticed. The people were wary but most bias was not intentional. They were not able to control their fears and if he did not antagonise them and went about his way, he was soon just someone else. He stayed out of sight when he was not with his friends and as he grew up, most people didn't even recognise who he was at a glance. He knew things were not great but he learnt to live with it until he could find a life somewhere outside Konoha where people did not know about him.

He cannot get out of being a ninja for Konoha due to the Kyuubi, but he was still looking for an opportunity that would take him elsewhere. He would keep his head down and learn all that he could, never raising any suspicions about his lack of loyalty to Konoha. He already had more than what he had hoped for.

Kids his age did not know about the Kyuubi and his classmates could not believe the occasional prejudice when he was out with them. For them I was just another kid, someone who was always friendly and helpful. He dreaded the day when they found out and hoped they would believe him when he introduced his dad to them.

The distant dream of being the hokage has long faded to obscurity.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

Naruto reached the classroom first as was customary and took his seat closer to the wall. It was the perfect place to blend in. The best way to socialize he found out was to be the first to the classroom so that he could have an easier time conversing with those that come in early. It was difficult to ignore him when there was no one else in the classroom with them. The first few times were awkward but as they continued it sort of became a routine.

As always Shikamaru was the next to come in. When Naruto first started coming a bit early he was surprised to see Shikamaru already in the classroom before him. Soon he learnt that Shikamaru's mom never let him sleep in so he used to come to the class to get some shut eye. This made Naruto come a whole hour early just to be the first.

"Hey Shika, good morning."

"Good morning Naruto."

"Got any extra preparations for the exams?"

"Unfortunately, yes. There is no point in flunking this exam just to suffer another year."

"Yeah, guess even you know when not to be lazy. So, any idea what the exams are going to be about."

"It is the same every year Naruto, written test, taijutsu and ninjustu. They told us all every day for the last month"

"I know, but why do we even have the written exam. They are mostly about the history and other useless stuff."

"Yeah, Why ever would ninjas, with missions all around the world, would want to know about other countries", came the sarcastic reply.

"Hey, no need to be condescending. I was just making conversation."

"You can be repetitive sometime Naruto. There is still a good half an hour left, let me get some rest for exams."

"Sure, wouldn't want you to fall asleep half way through the exam," said Naruto to an already asleep Shikamaru.

The minutes ticked by and students slowly started to trickle in. Lots of students were coming in early due to the exams and they looked too nervous to have gotten any proper sleep. He gave greetings to some familiar faces and soon enough it was time for the written test.

Iruka started the attendance roll and no one seems to be absent for the big day.

"It seems everyone is here on time so we will start. I will be distributing the papers in 5 minutes and you have 1 hour to fill in your answers. Your written exam will be for 25 marks and you need to have at least 10 marks to be considered for graduation. There will be no cheating allowed and if caught you will be kicked out." Instructed Iruka, steadily glaring at anyone he thinks will try to get one past him.

Naruto was calm as usual even though he hated the written exam. He was sure even if he didn't know the answer he could always ask his dad. Both thought very little about getting recognition in the ninja academy and playing fair didn't seem very useful.

When Naruto got his exam paper from Mizuki, he was surprised by the overtly friendly smile.

"Begin" shouted Iruka and soon everyone was busy turning the pages.

The exam at first glance seems to be made up of 15 simple questions. Things only started getting weird when he reached the 6th one.

' **6\. Why is a specialized secret exam given only to the students that the academy feels to be worthy?**

 **7\. What is the quickest way into joining the Anbu corps?'**

Naruto didn't even know there was a secret exam, so he was understandably very surprised. Question 6 and 7 also seemed to be specifically worded to suggest that passing the secret test is a sure fire way to get into the Anbu. Naruto really didn't care about the Anbu so he could have missed hearing about it. Looking around Naruto saw that others were just dutifully writing the exam.

He shrugged and went along with writing the other questions that were too generic to be challenging. Konoha seemed to not really care about its ninja being intellectually smart. He completed his papers on time with only those two questions being left out. He could also feel Mizuki constantly gauging him.

"Time's up everyone. Keep your answer sheets in the teacher's desk and get to the training grounds," shouted Iruka, quelling any protests for time extension.

Once everyone lined up, Iruka started his instructions. "For the taijutsu exams all of you will have knockout matches until a winner is decided. Come to the ring when I call your names for the fight. Stop the fight when your opponent is knocked out, gives up or when I call it. There will strictly be no maiming or other permanent injuries. Only use chakra reinforcement to complement your taijutsu. All other jutsus are prohibited."

There were taijutsu matches usually every week of the academy so all the students knew where everyone stood in the ranking. Naruto was no slack himself in taijutsu even if he didn't put in as much effort into it. The fights soon started and he cheered along with everyone else whenever a winner was decided. His own match was against Rei and the clear physical differences made any differences in skill pointless. He was glad that Shino, Chouji and Shikamaru won their matches too.

There were only 16 students left so if he wins he will be in the quarter finals. His next match was against Sakura and he smiled at his luck for the easy wins. He has seen some strong girls before but Sakura was not one of them. If not for her fight against Ino in the first round she wouldn't have even made it to the second. By her demeanour, she knew it too.

"Good luck Sakura, hope you scored enough in the written tests," taunted Naruto.

"You are the one who should be worried Naruto. There is no way you could have gotten even 10 marks in the written test," came the quick retort.

They both took the academy stance and once again Naruto's physical superiority helped him to the next round. It really was unfair, Naruto knew. He was always abnormally strong as a child and the instinctive nature that he now accessed his chakra made physical chakra reinforcement very powerful. He was sure physically he was miles ahead of everyone else in his class, with Kiba and Sasuke a distant second. They might be more skilled in taijutsu but he could overwhelm them with brute force every time. It was also something that he tried to avoid whenever he could. He much preferred ninjutsu of the long range kind instead of the melee, after all there are more creative ways than punches and kicks.

He felt that he had done enough to pass and decided not to use reinforcement for his next fight. His next opponent was Kiba and no one would be surprised if he lost now. Kiba was one of the top dogs of the academy, a clan heir, trained from a young age with clan techniques that specialize in taijutsu. As a token effort Naruto tried his best without reinforcement but he was found lacking in speed and technique. There was some mild applause for his effort which he graciously accepted. It was good to stay under everyone's radar he and his dad had long ago decided.

The other fights proceeded as expected and soon it was down to two. The final was between Kiba and Sasuke, a close fight in which they both fought for the rookie of the year title. Kiba might have been trained from his birth but Sasuke was a prodigy who was always trying to prove himself. Kiba never really had the drive to give his all to training unlike Sasuke, whose whole life had been redefined by his tragedy. For all their potential and power, his other classmates were only playing at ninja. The reality of this world cannot be seen by them until they suffer their own pain.

The noon bell signalled the break for lunch to replenish ourselves for the ninjutsu exam, the one that will make or break many of the students. Naruto was not limited by what was taught at the academy and in comparison the ninjutsu assigned for the exams was child's play. Sure the basic academy jutsus need to be second nature for all ninjas, after all they are the base for any good ninja but here they were not even being examined for their ninjutsu ability in a fight. The academy exams really were a let-down for all the hype that was given.

He joined his friends at the rooftop where they discussed their fights and how the fights were being scored for graduation. Shino was unreadable as ever while Chouji was clearly nervous about performing well in the ninjutsu exams. Shikamaru was relaxing in the shade and there was a sense of melancholy in the picture. This could very well be the last time that they ever get to meet again in the academy rooftop. After graduation there is no real assurance that they will be working with one another after all. Naruto soaked in this feeling, firmly etching it into his memories to always remember this point in his life no matter what the future held for him.

Returning to the graduation exams, the ninjutsu exam was easy as expected with all the students doing the basic ninjutsu successfully. Those that were unsuited had discontinued the academy long before this point. Naruto was handed his Konoha protector with the leaf symbol after his solid showing in the tests. The results of the tests were announced with just a few students failing to make the grade. Sasuke was declared the Rookie of the year as expected with only Kiba sulking at the result.

Back in his seat, Naruto looked at his Konoha protector with a sense of accomplishment. He is now a ninja, the first of the many milestones on his way to freedom. Soon he will be free to move and will have more opportunities to see the outside world. The walls of Konoha have far too long prisoned him to this place. He might not hate this place or its people but his face is starting to ache from keeping up this persona.

They were let go after being reminded to be back here in a week for team assignments. His friends started to join their waiting families, celebrating their graduations with their loved ones. He blended into the background disappearing before anyone noticed. He never liked being out in the open for long. There was a long unsupervised week away from the academy to look forward to and some well-deserved adventure in the forest.

The plans for the week were put to an abrupt halt when he came upon the academy's secret exam invitation for the worthy pinned to his apartment door. This had Mizuki's prints all over it, he knew it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

Naruto reached the place mentioned in the invitation, a spartan shed right in the middle of the forest. The section of the forest he was currently in stood a bit away from the places anyone usually ventured to and looked all the more suspicious. Naruto barely suppressed another groan of annoyance as he looked around for his sensei. It was well after the sun has set and there were no lights around to see things properly. This secret exam was an inconvenience he would have liked to have avoided.

'Dad, why did I even have to take this? It is not like I want to join the ANBU.'

'Naruto, we can't let them know of your intentions. They will found it suspicious if one of their academy students did not want to take a direct route to the elite.'

'But you said this could very well be a trap. What if we are just being tricked?'

'This will be all the more better for us if it was a trap, Naruto. We have waited for so long looking for opportunities and this could very well be our first.'

'At least they will only be expecting to deal with an academy student if things go wrong,' replied Naruto with a confident smirk. 'The sooner I fail this test the sooner I can work on the new jutsu.'

Their wait lasted another 5 min before Naruto could see Mizuki coming towards him. The annoying smirk in his face was all the evidence Naruto needed to know about the authenticity of this exam.

"Hope you weren't waiting for long Naruto. It took a while to set up things for the exam."

"It's alright sensei. I just got here."

"I know you must be having some questions about this surprise test Naruto. As you must have guessed this exam is given only for the top students of each graduation class. This is a test to see if you have enough skill to be drafted into the elite training program."

"Where are the others students then sensei? Sasuke is the Rookie of the year after all."

"Iruka is with him now Naruto. You have to concentrate on your test before you can worry about the others. This will not be a simple exam to test what you can do in a classroom but how you can use it in a real situation. Come along with me Naruto. For your test you will be helping me out on a real mission." Said Mizuki as he jumped to the branches after adjusting the big scroll he had on his back.

"Hai Sensei" replied Naruto quickly following Mizuki.

'Go along for now Naruto, we will see how far this goes,' said the Father, to which Naruto could only nod along.

Mizuki was taking them back into the village along the edge of the richer section of Konoha residents while being careful to avoid the usual ninja patrols. They slowly crept along the shadows of the night to a destination Naruto couldn't guess. Mizuki stopped near the compound wall of an elegant looking building and signalled Naruto to hold his silence. Counting steps from unknown instructions Mizuki found and marked a spot on the compound wall and extracted an unassuming scroll from his jacket. He carefully placed it against the wall and activated it. When nothing seemed to go off Naruto released a breath he didn't know he was holding. Mizuki started chakra walking along the wall and threw down a rope for Naruto when he reached the top. Naruto didn't make any notion to show he also knew how to chakra walk and silently followed Mizuki.

Jumping down into the garden inside the perimeter they both walked towards the back of the building when Mizuki instructed "This is where your mission starts Naruto. You have to go into the 2nd floor bedroom window that's right above us and have to assassinate Joben, who will be the one on the bed. This mission has been personally approved by the hokage and was selected especially for you. I have deactivated the traps but you will have to do the actual deed. Whether you can go through with it or not will decide your success."

When Naruto thought of a secret exam this was the furthest from his mind. But for a village training killers this did not seem that far out. If this was a trap then Naruto could only think of this as a frame job with the only way out of this is to fail the exam badly where Mizuki could spring the trap right then or play along for now. Naruto gave a nod to Mizuki and started climbing the building the old fashioned way while looking for possible traps and alarms. Other than a basic alarm attached to the locked bedroom window he didn't find any that wasn't already disarmed by someone else. After deactivating it Naruto carefully slid open the window and entered the luxurious bedroom of a wealthy civilian. He looked at the old man sleeping alone in his comfortable bed and thought back at his options because there was no way killing the guy would help him in any way.

'Layer a genjutsu on the bed son' said his Dad. 'We need to convince Mizuki that you did the assassination to see where this leads to.'

'But what if this is a real exam. Wouldn't deceiving the examiner be worse than failing.'

'Don't worry Naruto. I am confident Mizuki is not telling the truth. Whatever this is about, there is no secret examination. The scroll on Mizuki's back that he is taking precious care of is the possible suspect. Mizuki has shown no previous talent in genjutsu so this shouldn't be too difficult.'

"Ok, if you are sure then. **Henkō sa reta genjitsu** " Naruto whispered the name of the genjutsu taking care to use his father's chakra to cast it. As always his father's chakra seemed to guide his actions when using it and what is supposed to be a very high ranking jutsu was still well within his reach.

The mental image of the old man lying dead in the bed with a slit throat was imposed upon the actual scene. This genjutsu should hold up for another 30min after which his father's chakra will disperse on its own. Just to be sure he took out the sleeping gas from his pouch and sprayed a bit in the old man's face. He walked to the window he climbed in from and signalled to Mizuki that the deed was done.

Mizuki soon followed Naruto into the room to look at the crime scene. Looking at the dead man he seemed to smile to satisfaction and spat at the guy in some petty gesture of revenge. Naruto saw Mizuki place some papers in the drawer while looking around the room and soon went back to the window.

"Well Naruto, always knew you were one cold bastard. The hokage will be very satisfied with your performance. Now come along, it is time to get out of here" said Mizuki, jumping out of the window onto the compound wall.

Naruto followed his sensei all the way back to their original meeting spot in the forest. Mizuki turned around looking like a kid waiting to explain his successful prank.

"You are keeping yourself very well Naruto. This does not seem like your first kill at all."

"What can I say Sensei? Orders are orders. No use worrying about it."

"That's very mature of you Naruto. You would have made a very ruthless shinobi for Konoha if not for today."

"Why is that sensei, did I not pass the exam?

"No Naruto, you passed the exam. But that was not an exam for Konoha shinobi corps but for Orochimaru-sama."

"What? What do you mean sensei?" asked Naruto in a believable concerned voice.

"Orochimaru-sama was once like you Naruto. He was a very misunderstood person who was ostracised because the village feared him. He loved the village and dirtied his hands for its protection when no one else would. He worked in the shadows while risking his very being to make sure Konoha survived the third great shinobi war but when a jealous friend conspired against him with the fourth hokage, he was run out of the village and forgotten. He still has his people in Konoha that are loyal to him and when he came to know about a kid whom the village hated and ostracised because of something that was not his fault, he wanted to lend a helping hand."

"But the fourth hokage was a great shinobi sensei and hokage also wouldn't have allowed it," said a confused Naruto. There seemed to be conspiracy going on that he could not see how everything connected.

"There are secrets you do not know Naruto, even secrets about yourself. Hokages are not saints but the greatest of the liars and killers who have climbed to the top. What I am about to tell will let you see why your loyalty to this village is built upon pillars of deception. Have you ever asked your beloved hokage why people here do not like you, Naruto?"

"Yes?" came a very hesitant reply.

"Did he once give you a proper answer?" asked Mizuki. "I am sure he didn't. Around 12 years ago on the day you were born the village was attacked by the Kyuubi, a monster of legendary power that no shinobi of today can stand up to. As you may have heard Konoha lost a lot and the fourth hokage died fighting it. What you don't know is that the fourth hokage didn't kill it or run it off. Bijus cannot be killed Naruto. They are sealed inside jinchuurikis to be forged into weapons of war and nothing but the newborns make for the best of the jinchuurikis. But this village doesn't see you as their hero, not even as their weapon. For them you are nothing but a curse and a monster that has been put on a leash."

"But…that can't be. I am not a monster, sensei."

"I know Naruto, but don't tell me you can't remember how they looked at you with their hate and loathing, treated you like you were a rabid dog?" asked a sadistic Mizuki, loving twisting the knife deeper into an innocent soul. "But you don't have to worry anymore. Orochimaru-sama has asked to bring you to him, where you will be safe and happy outside the reach of these ungrateful vermin."

"No. I don't want to go with you sensei" said a suddenly chipper Naruto.

"What, even after everything that you now know?"

"Well, it's not like I didn't know all of that for a while. Expect the part about Orochimaru but that just sounded like propaganda to me."

"You ungrateful little bastard, you think you have a choice? You just killed a member of Konoha civilian council who has evidence in his house of collaboration with Iwa-nin for stealing this forbidden scroll of seals. When they find this scroll missing from the hokage office and that Joben was killed, they will soon find out that you were the one who killed him. It is too late for you to stay here anymore Naruto. There is no one here that will believe you. You can either come with me to serve Orochimaru-sama or I can silence you forever."

"Hmmm…I guess I will take my chance here sensei. I just graduated after all, no sense in wasting all those years of effort till now. Besides it sounds like you are just asking for me to become someone else's soldier."

"What a waste of effort you have been. Now die you ungrateful monster." screamed Mizuki rushing towards Naruto with a kunai in hand.

Naruto let his chakra flow to his body and jumped back to make space while letting the water from his pitcher flow to his arms. He swiped at the flying kunais aimed at his vitals and redirected them to his surroundings. He kept his space and never allowed Mizuki to close in. Once he was in the trees surrounding the clearing he took off creating some space.

The one thing that his Dad made him take as priority was learning to escape from a tight spot. He worked on his speed and stealth until his dad was satisfied and he could now easily outrun a genin and be silent as the wind doing it. When he had some distance on Mizuki, he created a water clone that ran straight ahead while he used the water to muffle the sounds of his footsteps and turned a sharp right. He used all his effort to maintain stealth and put some distance from his sensei. He smiled when he heard Mizuki cursing some way off, obviously not expecting his surprising speed or the water clone. All he had to do now was survive until the paralytic poison in Mizuki took effect.

Mizuki never even noticed the droplets of poison seeping into the pores of his skin during his big reveal as he was never expecting much resistance or skill from Naruto, certainly not after his shocking news. Naruto loved his water jutsu's and their versatility in combat.

Mizuki was searching the forest for him and as Naruto hoped, didn't use any big jutsus in fear of alerting the patrols. He heard the sounds moving away from him and waited a good 5 mins before searching for Mizuki. It was easy to follow his tracks and soon he came upon his sensei lying unconscious in the forest floor. Now came the inevitable moment he knew he had to face ever since he joined the academy, his first kill. There was no way he could let Mizuki go out alive from the forest. His only way out of this was for everything to look as if Naruto never showed up to the meeting and no one ever heard from Mizuki again.

As he was psyching himself up for the kill he felt darkness creep upon him. He panicked thinking if he was also poisoned and what would likely happen if Mizuki woke up before him, until he heard his Dad's voice.

"It's okay son, it is not the time for you to kill yet. I will take care of this"

Naruto woke up back in his bedroom with his heart pounding a mile a minute.

'Dad, what happened?'

'Mizuki is dead, Naruto. You don't have to worry about it.'

'What about the evidence? Won't the anbu find it in that old guy's house?'

'I went back and took it. There is no evidence of you being there. No one but any of Mizuki's accomplices knows you were involved in any way and they certainly won't think you could have killed a chunin.'

'I think we never should have gone there in the first place.'

'Then we wouldn't have this forbidden scroll of seals now, would we.'

"What?" Naruto looked surprised at the scroll leaning against his bed and opened it up in a hurry. His excitement built up upon seeing that the scroll was full of high level techniques that he could barely understand. He couldn't wait to try any of them out. It had been hard scrambling for jutsus over the years to learn without anyone noticing.

'But first Naruto, you have to hide it in our spot in the forest of death. This can never be found in your apartment.'

'Yes Dad. And thanks again, I wouldn't know what I would do without you.'

'It's okay Naruto, and good acting by the way.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4**

One jutsu, which was all he could learn before he had to go back to the academy. The forbidden scroll of seals had lived up to its name, containing within it jutsus ranging from the bizarre to the highly dangerous. Not all of them were completed either. There were some novel ideas in there that could be very nifty if fully completed. The one he chose to learn was something that will be very useful for his ninja career while also being very subtle. It was actually more of a technique than a jutsu really. It was about flowing chakra to your senses to improve their capabilities. The technique for far sight was really risky and deemed a failure but the one to improve your hearing seemed really useful.

When he started trying out this jutsu he nearly burst his eardrums and got a migraine that lasted for hours. He was bombarded with all the sounds made for miles that were amplified by a very high magnitude. He couldn't sift through the noises properly to make any proper sense and had to turn off the jutsu. The next time he tried he started with the very minimal enhancement and dialed it up slowly. While he started hearing things that was farther from him, the sounds made near him became progressively louder. This could be the reason why this jutsu is in the forbidden scroll. The brain was not accustomed to that level of stress.

Surprisingly while his ears were being battered, his dad didn't have the same problem. They experimented with some ideas and finally found a solution that worked. He borrowed the inhuman capabilities of his father's mind to act as a buffer. The sounds flowed through his father's mind filtering out the excess and he could hear clearly up to a mile. The range of this technique seemed to grow if he concentrated but a mile seemed a comfortable range when in passive.

He spent his time in the forest of death learning the voices of nature that was now so much more alive. He could see in his mind all the things that surrounded him from the predators moving along around him hunting for their prey to the insects buzzing around the trees. His world looked so much bigger now. It was incredible how much our world is defined to us by our senses. The things that you perceive everyday alter that way you think even though you know that the world is a bigger place.

By the time he left the forest he could safely say he has learned his way around the justu to use it for everyday life. The bustling streets of Konoha were alive with people moving about busy with their work. The stark difference between the forest and the village was remarkable. The forest was defined by the nature, free of purpose drifting along its course untouched by humanity while the village was made of intent and direction, a mechanization of life where the people worked to keep it alive. The excitement of the village was an incredible contract to the serenity of the forest.

The day of the team assignment was soon upon him and he was not sure if the nervousness he felt showed. All through this year the instructors were repeating the same thing that the ones you get as your teammates will be with you for the rest of your life if you are lucky. That after surviving through life or death situations they will be closer to you than your own family. Naruto was not asking for much just that let it be just someone he could tolerate.

Naruto stood across the clearing flanked by his new teammates facing his soon to be sensei. The plan was simple Naruto will be the brute force playing the bait while Shino will be providing support from long range using his clan jutsus. Ino will be looking for any opening to use her trade mark jutsu while also giving cover fire. His team did not have any taijutsu specialist and he was the best they could do. Shino's uses of his insects were flexible and provided a wide range of support. Unfortunately Ino didn't bring much to the table in live combat but she is smart enough to know her limitations. Her talents were more along the lines of planning, subterfuge and interrogation.

This exam is clearly to showcase our abilities to impress the jounin sensei but he was not sure what they were expecting out of newly graduated genins. None of them were officially taught any offensive jutsus so hopefully a decent show would be enough. He rushed towards Asuma with a kunai in hand ready for a short range taijutsu battle. With his body fully reinforced he threw his kunai with extra strength aiming at the jounin's body while he perfomed the clone jutsu for decoy. His kunai was easily deflected even if Asuma seemed to be surprised by the strength behind them and his clones seemed to be too easy to identify for the jounin. Since his water enhancement was out of the question Naruto stuck to his regular hand to hand combat skills using the kunai to deal at least a scratch. All his strikes were easily blocked and he was not able to push Asuma even a step back.

Asuma threw some shurikens to his left easily intercepting Ino's throw and jumped back in time to evade Shino's swarm. With a swipe of his combat knife he blew away the swarm that was still heading towards him easily scattering them. Naruto went back in to engage Asuma but was blown back by a strong counter. His taijutsu technique was still rough and his strikes seemed to be easily read by the more experienced opponent.

Naruto had to quickly kawarimi with a kunai to dodge a hail of shuriken heading his way. Shino's swarm was never allowed anywhere near their opponent and the swarm looked to have clearly taken a beating. Ino tried to pepper Asuma with some explosive kunai's but she got caught up in their explosions when they were deflected back to her. Before she could recover Asuma was in front of her throwing a clean knockout punch that she couldn't stop.

Everything looked to be a disaster and they were fast running out of options. Ino seemed to be out of it and Shino was fast running out of chakra. His self-imposed limit made him hide his jutsus so he could do nothing but stick to academy techniques.

"That is enough Naruto, the test is over. For a bunch of new graduates you guys are not bad, but if we are to work together you guys have a lot to learn" said Asuma bringing about the end to their test.

Ino had recovered enough to be able to stand on her own and the newly formed team regrouped back with their sensei. There was all round relief at the passing grade as no one wanted to go back to the academy for another year.

"Now it is time for your evaluations. Let's start with Ino, even for someone just out of the academy you were very limited in your options."

"But that's not fair sensei. No genin could match up with a jounin." Ino protested.

"Ah, but you were not expected to defeat me. As it stands, out of the three of you the weakest in combat is you, Ino. Shino has some range but his stamina and chakra capacity is limited. I haven't seen his taijutsu yet but from the reports he barely scraped through. The one with the most potential and least development is you, Naruto. You have a large chakra capacity but do not have any ways to properly use them yet. Your strength and build is a great base for taijutsu but you have clearly not worked on you technique. There is much work all three of you have to do if you want to be a good ninja."

"Yes, Sensei,"

"Now, let's go celebrate the formation of team 10. Dinner's on me."

"Thank you, Asuma-sensei" came the chorused reply.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

The ninja career was not as exciting as they made it out to be. After the initiation test our sensei stuck to either training us in basics or some random boring missions around the village. The other graduated teams are also doing the same and it is expected to go on for a few months before any real missions out of this place are given. That is not to say that nothing interesting happened in his life during his first month as a genin. A ninja thrives on secrecy and information and the new justu that he learned just opened up an avenue that held so much potential.

The information that is passed on when people think there is no one to hear them has so much value that just walking around the village in the evening brought along many opportunities. The secrets that he learnt aren't ground breaking since no decent ninja has slipped up so far but the new and the sloppy ones just couldn't keep their mouth shut.

Slowly his gaps in knowledge about the political environment and the military were slowly being filled in and the gossips going around the ninja hangouts are some of the most outlandish things he has ever heard before. This is especially true when the ninjas needing to wind down after a tough mission starts talking.

The information taught in the academy was so much filled with bias and propaganda meant to brainwash its soldiers that he always took it with a pinch of salt. When he started learning about what is really going on out there it made him that much more determined to be free of this place. The big desert of Suna, the mountains of Kuno, the samurais of iron, the waterfalls of taki, the mysterious islands of the kiri and so much more to explore outside these walls that he couldn't start those C rank missions early enough.

The latest that he overhead the ninjas speaking about was the rising tensions with the Sunagakure ninjas regarding their financial problems. It seemed that the close ties with Suna were being tested because of their potential clients preferring to come to Konoha over them. The ninja villages were always iffy with their agreements and Konoha would do well not to spurn their only ally.

During his free time he still hung out with his academy friends and it was good to see that nothing has changed with them after officially being ninjas. Chouji, Shikamaru and Hinata were assigned to team 8 under jounin sensei Kurenai and the only other team to pass out of their class was team 7, made up of Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba under jounin sensei Kakashi. The things he had learned around the rumour mill about Kakashi made him smile at Sasuke's and Kiba's misfortune. They certainly deserved it.

Kakashi has his own legend about graduating and going to war before most kids even joined the academy but the war certainly didn't leave him untouched. He is now a fearsome ninja that has a reputation to not give a damn for anything other than his porn collection.

His own team's match up was not bad and there were no issues getting along with either of his teammates. He was already close friends with Shino and he was a passing acquaintance with Ino from his days of hanging out with Shikamaru and Chouji. His sensei was professional if a bit laid back but everything was coming along at a nice pace. His sensei's relations with the old man were a bit strainted as he absolutely loathed politics so that is one more point in his book.

Asuma sensei first started working on his team's taijutsu as priority because he would not teach them cool jutsus until they had their basics down. Ino and Shino were made to improve the physical capabilities like strength and stamina while he made Naruto work on his technique. It was gruelling work for them but they put in their effort and the benefits were already showing.

The one other interesting thing that he learned during his evenings walks is about the psycho kunoichi Anko and her affiliations with orochimaru, the one person he was interested to learn more about because of Mizuki's monologue. Anko was apparently Orochimaru's student who was a victim of circumstances due to her sensei's betrayal. Isn't that a nice titbit to hear validating his decision to not go along with Mizuki.

After some research of his own, he learnt about the story going on around the village of how the great sannin, the best of the old man's students went crazy and started dwelling into forbidden experiments that were sick and inhumane and was apparently so much worse because he actually experimented on the people from Konoha. That must have stung the old man pretty deep. His labs were also found all around Konoha with at least one more being discovered every passing year. It was really a wonder he was not discovered earlier.

His own training was going along smoothly and team 10's schedule left a lot of free time to be on his own. Mizuki's incident was the first time his father was able to have any direct interaction with the outside world and a lot of testing was done to find the limits. It was possible for Naruto to let go of his control over his own body and let his dad into the driver seat. It was difficult at first but it was very much possible. Whenever he let his dad take control he could feel and see himself moving without even trying, like a puppet whose strings were pulled by another.

They learnt it was a very bad idea when one day his dad tore his calf muscle while seeing how fast he could go. His dad didn't actually feel it but it was a great pain for Naruto to deal with. His dad has from then on refused to take control and said that he will intervene only in times of great danger.

The monster of Suna was a rumour that provided a truly great inspiration for his father. The jinchuriki of Suna was apparently a sand demon sealed into their kage's kid who went around terrorizing Sunagakure's citizens. He actually had an automatic defence in the form of a barrier of sand that was controlled by the monster within him. If that was possible then maybe they could also work something out for an ace.

From then on during self-training sessions he let his body saturate with his father's chakra and let it flow out of his body. With limited amount there were no results and when it got to the point where someone could notice, his father was only able to affect a small amount of water. A blob of water floated around him that was barely useful for anything and he also had to tightly control the amount he let out.

His dad decided to try something else other than direct influence over the outside world and the effects were rather mind blowing. He was directly able to cast genjustu over people that came near Naruto. For a whole week his dad made his neighbours hear a dog barking in front of their apartments at night. The raging was hilarious. The potential of this new realisation was enormous and was a deadly ace to have in times of emergency. The next step for his dad was to control puppets.

It was now time to look around the forbidden scroll of seals to check for any other useful jutsus to learn. There were a lot of deadly and large scale Justus but the one that caught his eye the most was the shadow clone justu. The ability to make a huge amount of physical clones was salivating and the instructions were really simple. The only limitation that he could find was that it consumed a lot of chakra and hence was made unsafe for genins to use. He already had more than chunin levels of chakra and it was safe for him to try.

After another day of teams training he made his way to the forest of death a safe distance away from any prying eyes and decided to try the jutsu. He channelled the a third of his reserves from his core and when through the hand seals given in the instructions.

" **Shadow Clone Justu"**

With a burst of chakra and smoke he felt the chakra leave him and disperse around his surroundings. He was shocked to see that he was surrounded by a lot of clones. After a count he found out that there were now 22 clones which seemed a huge amount for his first try.

"Naruto, try some clones with my chakra now, maybe enough chakra for only a couple of clones."

"Ok dad. **Shadow Clone Jutsu"**

"Uhhh…dad, what are they?"

Standing infront of Naruto was two persons roughly six foot tall and shrouded in darkness. They were wearing identical black robes that covered them from head to toe. There were no features that he could distinguish even when they were standing in the light.

"Naruto, it's me," replied the two beings.

"I believe those are my clones, Naruto," said his dad still from the inside.

"What? This is great dad. You can come out now."

Naruto was happy. His dad was finally free. He always wanted to let his father out of his prison but he didn't realise that day would come so soon. He rushed towards the two figures and jumped for a hug only to pass right through them. Before he could fall, they caught him from behind.

"No, Naruto. I cannot feel or control them. I am inside," his father said when both of his clones were dismissed after running out of chakra. "But it seems I can see what they did. Dismiss your clones, Naruto. Confirm if you are also able to retrieve their memories."

That was unfortunate, disheartening and his dad's lack of excitement for his own freedom made it all the more depressing. He vowed to himself he would set his dad free one day and will start working on fuinjutsu at the earliest possible opportunity. But for now he did as his dad asked for and dismissed his clones. As with his dad he could got back the memories of the clones.

"Yes dad, I was also able to see what they saw."

"This seems like a jutsu too good to be true, Naruto. There is so much that we could do with this."


End file.
